Year by Year

Click on the year you want more information on in the table below. Here are some key dates.:

1861- First recorded football game in Canada.

1898 - First regular season played (only challenges and playoffs held prior to this)

1909 - First Grey Cup

1921 - Major rules changes: Number of players on field reduced to 12 and ball snapped by center

1921 - First Western Challenge for the Grey Cup.

1929 - Forward pass introduced in limited form

1935 - First Grey Cup win by a West team (Winnipeg)

1948 - Calgary invades Toronto and transforms the Grey Cup

1950 - Hamilton Tigers and Hamilton Wildcats merge to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

1954 - BC Lions join the West and the last year amateurs competed for the Grey Cup

Years with an * indicate that individual stats are currently available as a link in Word or PDF format on the page for each year. From 1930-40 and 1945-49, the only stats available are the East (Big Four / IRFU) scoring leaders. The IRFU suspended play for 4 years from 1941-44. Stats from 1950-53 include the East scoring stats and more complete stats from the West (WIFU). Starting in 1954, complete stats are available for both the East and West though some stat categories were not tracked until much later (e.g. sacks in 1981 and tackles in 1987).